1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to fault tolerant computer systems, and more particularly, to redundant fault tolerant computer systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
The reliability of computer system continues to become increasingly important as dependence upon computers continues to increase. See Reliable Computer Systems,--Design and Evaluation, by Daniel P. Siewiorek and Robert S. Swarz, Digital Press, 1992. Fault tolerant computer systems employ redundant elements to guard against system failure. If one redundant element fails then another element takes over for the failed element. For example, a typical triple modular redundant computer system may employ three processors. If one processor fails, then another of the tree processors is available to take over for the failed processor. See Fault Tolerant Computer System Design, by Dhiraj K. Pradhan, Prentice Hall, Inc., 1995.